To stay relevant in the professional graphics ecosystem, applications need to handle roughly the same types of tasks while also giving you a handful of useful capabilities that no other software has. When it comes to graphics software, Adobe is typically the name to beat. That’s why I was surprised how easily CorelDraw turned my head. CorelDraw has some attractions that even Adobe Illustrator can’t match—at least, not without purchased plug-ins or extra steps. For a graphics program historically geared toward the non-designer production side and Windows-based artists, CorelDraw packs some pro-level features into an app that’s accessible and easy to use. Still, Adobe Illustrator remains our Editors’ Choice winner for vector graphics software, partly because of its powerful integration with other Creative Cloud apps.How Much Does CorelDraw Cost? There are a variety of versions of CorelDraw that suit just about every need: Essentials ($129 one-time purchase, Windows only), a web-based version for hobbyists that comes with a lightweight version of Corel Photo-PaintStandard ($299, Windows only) for design enthusiasts, which has a more full-featured version of Corel Photo-Paint and adds clipart, digital images, royalty-free photos, more fonts, and templatesGraphics Suite ($549 one-time purchase, $269 per year, or $22.42 per month with an annual commitment; for Windows, macOS, web, and iPad) the pro-level versionThat last and most expensive option, CorelDraw Graphics Suite, comes with vector illustration, layout, drawing, and typography tools. Make sure you take advantage of the free 15-day trial. And look for special education and business pricing if they apply to you.
Should you subscribe or buy CorelDraw outright? If you opt for the one-time purchase, you own and can use the software for as long as you like, but you don’t get upgrades and none of the following: cloud-based collaboration tools, asset management, cloud file sharing and storage, and access to the web apps and iPad app. Subscriptions get you support, updates, and the web apps and iPad app.
For comparison, Adobe Illustrator is only available via subscription. It costs $22.99 per month as a standalone product, or you can pay for the Creative Cloud All-Apps subscription at $59.99 per month. The latter is somewhat more analogous to CorelDraw Graphics Suite 2024, which also includes photo and layout software; you need Adobe’s suite to get Photoshop and InDesign as well as Illustrator for those functions.The cheapest competitor is Affinity Designer, which you can buy solo for $69.99, or you can get with companion apps for photo editing and layout for $164.99 (one-time purchase). Like CorelDraw Graphics Suite, the Affinity package is available for macOS, Windows, and iPad. Another free or low-cost option for simple template-based design is Adobe Express (free; Premium version $9.99 per month), though it’s in a somewhat different category and is more similar to Canva (free, $15 per month for Pro).System RequirementsCorelDraw runs on Windows 11 or Windows 10 (version 21H1 or later) 64-bit and on macOS 12 (Monterey) and later. You need an Intel Core i3/5/7/9 or AMD Ryzen 3/5/7/9/Threadripper EPYC CPU and an OpenCL 1.2-enabled video card with 3GB VRAM or more on Windows. For macOS, you need an M1/2/3/Pro/Max or Multicore Intel processor and an OpenCL 1.2-enabled video card with 3+GB VRAM. Both Windows and Mac versions require an internet connection to install and authenticate, and to access some of the included software components, online features, and content.
(Credit: Alludo/PCMag)
What Is CorelDraw?CorelDraw is for vector drawing, designing, and editing, as well as layout. It’s a global favorite, particularly in the apparel, garment, and textile industries.It may not be evident from its name, but CorelDraw is a full-fledged page-layout application, in addition to being a drawing and painting app. It’s a little like having Adobe InDesign and Illustrator in the same program, with a splash of Photoshop because CorelDraw can also perform filter-based effects on raster (bitmap) images, create rasters from vectors (and vice versa with the trace function), and more.
(Credit: Alludo/Resa Embutin)
In 2022, Canadian software company Corel rebranded itself to Alludo (a wordplay on the phrase “All You Do”). For the deep-cut reader, Corel is an abbreviation for Cowpland Research Laboratory, founded in 1985 by Michael Cowpland.Over time, Alludo (née Corel) has simplified how it organizes its spectrum of apps. The 2024 CorelDraw Graphics Suite consists of CorelDraw 2024 for vector illustration and multipage layout, Corel Photo-Paint for image processing, and Corel Font Manager for managing your typeface library. There is also CorelDraw.app, a browser-based version of CorelDraw that you can use online, on an iPad, and for collaborative file review.The real draw of CorelDraw is its ease of use. Compared with the complexity of Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw is a breeze. When you create a new document, a clean and organized work area appears, with a helpful hints panel ready to guide you where you want to go. New users get further support from the hover hints-enabled tool icons. The interface and tools are precisely what you might expect, but there are a few notable exceptions, highlighted below.CorelDraw Plays NiceCorelDraw makes a reasonable effort to play nice with other apps. For instance, you can open a native Illustrator file, and when doing so, you are prompted to import text as text or as curves. CorelDraw won’t import fonts that you haven’t licensed (you have to buy them), so if you choose to import as text, you must define a substitution and change the font or import it as outlines (curves). InDesign files are a different story. They won’t open in CorelDraw, but you can open a corresponding PDF for access. Upon import, CorelDraw organizes pages on separate tab docks, but after import, you can specify a multipage view, but this is set up as a grid of pages (like Illustrator) and not as spreads (like InDesign). The good news is that there is a Facing Pages option. I found that some images and graphics I placed in my InDesign PDF did not present properly in CorelDraw, and there is still the issue of inaccessibility of fonts managed by my Extensis Connect Fonts.Production houses are the meat-and-potatoes users of CorelDraw, so it’s a sure bet that with the mammoth variable mix of designers, production people, file types, clients, vendors, and machinery requirements, Corel must be on the ball about prepress interaction, file exchange and compatibility, and output capability. When exporting CorelDraw files, you choose from a robust file-type group. Additionally, an Export To command includes exporting to PDF, Office, WordPress, and web, as well as multiple file types.CorelDraw’s Distinguishing Features The following features are ones you’d expect to find in a pro-level application, and indeed, you get them in CorelDraw: customizable brushes and lines; shape blending; Boolean path operations; advanced fill options like texture, fountain, PostScript, and mesh (envelope); color spaces for printing and screens (CMYK, spot, RGB, HSB, grayscale, and free Pantone Libraries, which Adobe has phased out); plug-ins, and scripts.In addition, several features differentiate CorelDraw from its competitors, which I explore in this section.Meet Inspector Learn
(Credit: Alludo/Shelby Putnam Tupper)
The Learn Inspector is a contextual learning experience that makes CorelDraw even more accessible than it already is. You get to the Learn Inspector right from your workspace. This searchable panel gives you plenty of options to hone your expertise, and it links to a fully indexed and interactive PDF user guide. At your fingertips are resources for learning or getting out of a pickle, including access to video tutorials and demos, the CorelDraw community forum, a link to contact support (included for subscribers), and even a virtual suggestion box. Add to that hover-over tooltips, so if you get lost, it’s never for long.
(Credit: Alludo/PCMag)
Quick ResponsesSome tasty extras include custom QR code creation, design, and validation—handy for adding this underrated device to your designs. QR codes are awesome tools to connect your smartphone-carrying audience to websites, videos, contact information, and even secret messages. Shapely SymmetrySmart shape recognition (like that in Adobe Fresco) auto-transforms your wonky freehand shapes into clean, basic shapes with straight lines and proper angles.In the mix are a symmetry tool and an option to mirror changes in curve objects, which Illustrator now has, too. Both of them make creating trendy mandala and Zentangle art fun and simpler than doing it by hand. It’s a Fine LineIf your work involves making flowcharts, mind maps, or callouts, you’ll love CorelDraw’s advanced line tools. They come with options like connector, call-out, and dimensioning, which do the tedious manual work for you.The app’s smart LiveSketch tool lets you sketch freehand with a stylus, while the app converts your line work to Bézier curves using intelligent stroke adjustment.
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Other TreatsAbsent from Illustrator is a spiral tool that makes both logarithmic and Archimedean spirals—it’s in CorelDraw. My final few favorites are a three-point ellipse definer, a plethora of smart-customizable common shapes, and a table-making text tool.
(Credit: Alludo/Shelby Putnam Tupper)
The app comes standard with some fun special effects makers. Several categories of visual toys (for example, bevel, blend, smear, repel, long shadow, and lens) work on vector and raster images.The cool Impact Tool creates tapered starbursts (radial setting) and tapered motion lines (parallel setting). Both effects are endlessly customizable, and the resulting graphics create a trendy focal spot (radial setting) or an acceleration visual (parallel setting).The Pointilizer is an awesome custom halftone generator that’s not limited to the regular dots that make up most halftones. You can use any shape you like, and you get loads of variable parameters. I’ve been using Lost Minds’ standalone application, VectoRaster, and Astute Graphics plugins in conjunction with Illustrator to get this type of job done.Anyone wanting to make a photomosaic—one of those images that’s made up of hundreds of photos—can do it with CorelDraw’s great PhotoCocktail feature. It takes your curated set of photos and creates a masterpiece. There are several macOS and Windows programs that can do it, but how nice is it to have that capability in your Corel arsenal?
(Credit: Alludo/Shelby Putnam Tupper)
Dynamic Asset ManagementWhat’s great about collaborating within a cloud-based asset repository is that, as Corel puts it, you can, “Create a single source of truth for design assets by sharing symbols across projects and with teams and syncing updates when changes are made by you or others.” Implementing instances of a symbol (a specified object that appears throughout a document or series of works), rather than copying and placing an object over and over, gives you several advantages, such as efficiency in fostering continuity across layouts and reducing file sizes.Access to this type of centralized design ecosystem has given birth to new types of supercharged design systems that benefit teams and brands. Design systems are glorified brand style guides that share not only usage and implementation rules but also the actual files, symbols, color swatches, typography style sheets, and more. Along with Figma, Adobe XD was a front runner for creating and managing cohesive online experiences where team members have access to the latest, along with a library of micro-interactions, buttons, hover, and other states, and transition animations, to name a few. No more having to worry about whether you have the latest version of your team’s art assets—it’s there. In addition to design systems, any cloud-based, centralized collaboration allows creatives to organize feedback in one place.What’s New or Upgraded in CorelDraw?Painterly BrushesAdded recently is a set of 100 natural media and particle brushes that approximate the look of traditional art media like paint, pastels, and pencils. You get a total of 100 pixel-based brushes, each controlled by vector Bezier curves.
(Credit: Alludo/Shelby Putnam Tupper)
Non-Destructive Raster Effects Just enhanced is the seamless workflow between CorelDraw and Corel Photo-Paint. Now, you can implement bitmap effects on your vectors without altering your original image and view the results as you refine settings.
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Remote FontsWithout needing to download fonts, you can now preview online fonts directly in the font list within CorelDraw. When a remote font is detected, it is automatically downloaded for immediate use. This arrangement works similarly to Adobe Fonts in Creative Cloud.
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TemplatesSubscribers get 300 new cloud-based design templates to save time and inspire creativity.
(Credit: Alludo)
Nothing ArtificialCorelDraw hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon of incorporating AI text-to-image technology directly into its app the way Canva, Microsoft Designer, and Adobe Firefly all have. That said, Corel has a new, optional AI plug-in for CorelDraw called Vision FX ($79 sold separately). It promises an “artistic odyssey without limits,” with the ability to transform photos and other pixel-based images into extraordinary artistic marvels using artificial intelligence. Verdict: More than One Way to DrawThe graphics arts world is divided, with CorelDraw and Illustrator each holding their share of devoted fans. A minority of designers use both. Corel is, at the least, keeping up with expectations and, at the most, earning some honest concern from its competition. Even though the newest enhancements in CorelDraw feel comparatively lackluster and behind its competitors, this feature-rich program can satisfy newbies and pros alike. We recommend CorelDraw for entry-level creators who would benefit from a more accessible graphics suite. Nevertheless, Adobe Illustrator remains our Editors’ Choice winner for vector graphics design. As for me, I think I’ll join the minority that uses two tools instead of one.
Pros
Professional-level features, some of which are unique
Fun, easy, instant-gratification effects
Cloud-based collaboration and asset management (subscription only)
Easier to learn than Illustrator for a pro-level tool
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The Bottom Line
CorelDraw is a capable graphic design and production app with unique tools and team collaboration for people of all skill levels.
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About Shelby Putnam Tupper
Contributor
Shelby Putnam Tupper is founder and creative director of Shelby Designs Inc., a small-but-mighty, full-service, customer-obsessed design consultancy.
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